19 year-old Pete Dawson has ticked Steve McClure's Rainshadow (9a) 9a at Malham Cove - his first route of the grade. The line has received increased attention in recent years, with Will Bosi completing it in 2016 and Ryan Pasquill redpointing it last month. An extension of the classic 8a Raindogs (8a), Rainshadow involves a burly boulder problem in a roof before continuing further up the headwall.

Having accumulated a number of routes in the high 8s - including 8c+ ticks at Anstey's Cove and in Spain last year - Pete set his sights on climbing his first 9a. He told UKC:

'I started trying Rainshadow in April. I chose it because it's such a stunning climb breaching the steepest part of Malham Cove and it's also the most popular 9a in the country. The style is really athletic with hard moves but there's still an endurance element and this really suited me.'

The route took Pete just eight days of work in total. The first few days were spent working the crux 8A boulder, before Pete decided to go for redpoints from the ground. He commented: 'I found this crux really tough and I had to train specifically on campus and 50 degree boards to gain power.'

Pete relished the redpointing process, but there was a time constraint, as he explained:

'The moves are so good that I enjoyed every single attempt, however towards the end I felt the pressure a bit more because I was running out of time before heading to Frankenjura. It felt amazing to climb Rainshadow because I had to find the 'flow' and when you climb a line so perfectly it's super satisfying!'

Next on the list is the aforementioned month-long trip to Frankenjura. Pete told us:

'I'm excited to try some of the historic and classic routes there and I've my eye on Wallstreet in particular. In the UK, I'm keen to push myself more on the Yorkshire Limestone. I've tried Northern Lights a few times and I can't wait to pull on Overshadow, but I'll probably get spanked!'